Identifying Body Composition Measures That Correlate with Self-Compassion and Social Support Within The Lived Experiences Measured Using Rings Study (LEMURS)

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between body composition metrics, self-compassion, and social support among college students. Using seasonal body composition data from the InBody770 system and psychometric measures from the Lived Experiences Measured Using Rings Study (LEMURS) (n=156; freshmen=66, sophomores=90), Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) reveals body composition metrics exhibit moderate correlation with self-compassion and social support. Certain physiological and psychological features showed strong and consistent relationships with well-being across the academic year. Trunk and leg impedance stood out as key physiological indicators, while mindfulness, over-identification, affectionate support, and tangible support emerged as recurring psychological and social correlates. This demonstrates that body composition metrics can serve as valuable biomarkers for indicating self-perceived psychosocial well-being, offering insights for future research on scalable mental health modeling and intervention strategies.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: Diagram illustrating participant attrition and data imputation throughout the preprocessing stage of the study. Note the level of attrition through the preprocessing stage; a total of 156 students (66 freshmen and 90 sophomores) overlapped in all three seasonal sessions.
• Figure 2: Fig \ref{['fig:cca_change_1']}a. (right) shows canonical variates coefficients corresponding to self-compassion and body composition while Fig \ref{['fig:cca_change_1']}b. (left) shows canonical variates for social support and body composition for the Fall, Winter, and Spring seasons. Relatively high CCA correlation was examined in the first couple of canonical variate pairs. Spring body composition and self-compassion measures had the highest correlation, while the Fall body composition and social-support measures had the highest correlation to one another.
• Figure 3: Fig \ref{['fig:cca_change_2']}a. (right) shows canonical variates coefficients corresponding to self-compassion and ICSS body composition, while Fig \ref{['fig:cca_change_2']}b. (left) shows canonical variates for social support and ICSS body composition for the Fall, Winter, and Spring seasons. Similar patterns were observed within the ICSS features as they were with all body composition measures.
• Figure 4: These violin graphs illustrate how the social support measures change across the seasons for both freshmen and sophomores. While the differences in tangible support and overall social support between freshmen and sophomores did not reach statistical significance, the effect size suggests potential practical relevance worth further exploration.
• Figure 5: These violin graphs illustrate how the self-compassion measures change across the seasons for both freshmen and sophomores. While the differences in isolation and self-judgment between freshmen and sophomores did not reach statistical significance, the effect size suggests potential practical relevance worth further exploration.